USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Dunstable > History of the town of Dunstable, Massachusetts, from its earliest settlement to the year of Our Lord 1873 > Part 5
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Capt. Lovewell was brave, adventurous, and persistent. He died with his gun loaded and pointed towards the foe. His blood was not spilled in vain. The action at Pequawket closed the war, and insured tranquillity. A treaty of peace was soon made with the different Indian tribes, and the Pequawkets, under their leader Adeawanda, removed to Canada.
The following letter (Massachusetts Archives, LXXII, 263), addressed to Col. Tyng, indicates the feeling of security which prevailed : -
"Sir, - The enemy being drawn off & the season of Danger pretty well over, you must forthwith see that the soldiers in the Frontiers be reduced to the following Numbers ; viz., Twenty-five Men at Dunstable & Dracut, Ten at Turkey Hills, Fourteen at Groton, Fourteen at Lan- caster, Twenty-five at Rutland, & ten at Brookfield & That all the rest of the Soldiers in the Counties of Middlesex and Essex, Including Lieut.
5I
AN ANCIENT BALLAD.
1725]
Brentnal's scouts be forthwith disbanded. And the several officers are required to put these orders in execution accordingly."
The name of Lovewell at once became famous. The story of his exploits was rehearsed in every dwelling, and even in the pulpits of the country. As early as the 16th of May, 1725, the Rev. Thomas Symmes, V. D. M., of Bradford, preached a sermon " occasioned by the fall of the brave Capt. John Love- well and several of his valiant company in the late heroic action." The Historical Memoirs prefixed to this sermon contain, perhaps, the best account of the fight that has been transmitted to us. A very mournful ballad, said by John Farmer to have been written soon after the tragic event occurred, embodies the chief incidents of the fight, and is one of the few compositions of the kind that have floated down to us from our forefathers. It was for a long period the most popular song in the colonies. It is to be regretted that neither the name of the author, nor the music to which the words were adapted and so often sung in winter evenings by " the old folks at home," has been preserved.
THE BALLAD OF CAPT. JOHN LOVEWELL'S FIGHT, AT PEQUAWKET.
I. Of worthy Capt. Lovewell I purpose now to sing, How valiantly he served his country and his king : He and his valiant soldiers did range the woods full wide, And hardships they endured to quell the Indians' pride.
II.
. 'T was nigh unto Pigwacket, on the eighth day of May, They spied a rebel Indian, soon after break of day. He on a bank was walking, upon a neck of land Which leads into a pond, as we 're made to understand.
III.
Our men resolved to have him, and travelled two miles round, Until they met the Indian, who boldly stood his ground. Then speaks up Capt. Lovewell, " Take you good heed," says he, "This rogue is to decoy us, I very plainly see.
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HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.
[1725
IV.
" The Indians lie in ambush, in some place nigh at hand, In order to surround us upon this neck of land ; Therefore we'll march in order, and each man leave his pack, That we may briskly fight them when they shall us attack."
V.
They come unto the Indian who did them thus defy ; As soon as they come nigh him, two guns he did let fly, Which wounded Capt. Lovewell and likewise one man* more ; But when this rogue was running, they laid him in his gore.
VI.
Then, having scalped the Indian, they went back to the spot Where they had laid their packs down, but there they found them not ; For the Indians, having spied them when they them down did lay, Did seize them for their plunder, and carry them away.
VII.
These rebels lay in ambush, this very place near by, So that an English soldier did one of them espy, And cried out, "Here's an Indian !" With that they started out As fiercely as old lions, and hideously did shout.
VIII.
With that our valiant English all gave a loud huzza, To show the rebel Indians they feared them not a straw. So now the fight began as fiercely as could be,
The Indians ran up to them, but soon were forced to flee.
IX.
Then spake up Capt. Lovewell, when first the fight began, " Fight on, my valiant heroes, you see they fall like rain !" . For, as we are informed, the Indians were so thick, A man could scarcely fire a gun, and not some of them hit.
X.
Then did the rebels try their best our soldiers to surround, But they could not accomplish it, because there was a pond, To which our men retreated and covered all the rear. The rogues were forced to flee them, although they skulked for fear.
* Lieut. Josiah Farwell, of Dunstable.
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AN ANCIENT BALLAD.
1725]
XI.
Two logs that were behind them so close together lay, Without being discovered they could not get away ; Therefore, our valiant English, they travelled in a row, And at a handsome distance, as they were wont to go.
XII.
'T was ten o'clock in the morning when first the fight begun, And fiercely did continue till the setting of the sun, Excepting that the Indians, some hours before 't was night, Drew off into the bushes and ceased awhile to fight.
XIII.
But soon again returned, in fierce and furious mood, Shouting as in the morning, but yet not half so loud ; For, as we are informed, so thick and fast they fell, Scarce twenty of their number at night did get home well.
XIV.
And that our valiant English till midnight there did stay, To see whether the rebels would have another fray ; But they no more returning, they made off to their home, And brought away their wounded as far as they could come.
XV.
Of all our valiant English there were but thirty-four, And of the rebel Indians there were about fourscore. And sixteen of our English did safely home return ; The rest were killed and wounded, for which we all must mourn.
XVI.
Our worthy Capt. Lovewell among them there did die ; They killed Lieut. Robbins* and wounded good young Frye,t Who was our English chaplain ; he many Indians slew, And some of them he scalped, when bullets round him flew.
XVII.
Young Fullam, ¿ too, I'll mention, because he fought so well ; Endeavoring to save a man, a sacrifice he fell.
* Lieut. Jonathan Robbins was a native of Chelmsford. He married Margaret Gould, and settled on Long Hill, Dunstable.
t He died in the wilderness several days subsequent to the fight.
# Sergt. Jacob Fullam was of Weston. "One of the first that was killed," says John Farmer, " was by his right hand, and when ready to encounter a second sho it is said that he and his adversary fell at the very instant by each other's shot."
54
HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.
[1725
And yet our valiant Englishmen in fight were ne'er dismayed, But still they kept their motion, and Wyman captain made, -
XVIII.
Who shot the old chief Paugus,* which did the foe defeat, Then set his men in order and brought off the retreat ; And, braving many dangers and hardships by the way, They safe arrived at Dunstable the thirteenth day of May.
Another ballad, purporting to be ancient and commencing, -
" What time the noble Lovewell came With fifty men from Dunstable,"
is of modern origin.
The following graceful lines commemorating this tragical event are from the pen of the Rev. Thomas Cogswell Upham, D. D., born in Deerfield, N. H., Jan. 30, 1799. They were written in 1825 :-
Ah ! where are the soldiers that fought here of yore ? The sod is upon them ; they 'll struggle no more. The hatchet is fallen, the red man is low ; But near him reposes the arm of his foe.
The bugle is silent, the war-whoop is dead ; There's a murmur of waters and woods in their stead ; And the raven and owl chant a symphony drear, From the dark, waving pines, o'er the combatants' bier.
The light of the sun has just sunk in the wave, And a long time ago set the sun of the brave. The waters complain as they roll o'er the stones, And the rank grass encircles a few scattered bones.
The names of the fallen the traveller leaves Cut out with his knife in the bark of the trees. But little avail his affectionate arts, For the names of the fallen are graved in our hearts.
The voice of the hunter is loud on the breeze, There's a dashing of waters, a rustling of trees ; But the jangling of armor hath all passed away ; No gushing of life-blood is here seen to-day.
* Paugus was found and buried by Col. Tyng.
55
1737]
DISMEMBERMENT OF THE TOWN.
The eye that was sparkling no longer is bright ; The arm of the mighty, Death conquered its might ; The bosoms that once for their country beat high, - To those bosoms the sods of the valley are nigh.
Sleep, soldiers of merit ! Sleep, gallant of yore ! The hatchet is fallen, the struggle is o'er. While the fir-tree is green and the wind rolls a wave The tear-drop shall brighten the turf of the brave.
The occupation of the lands of the town consequent on the return of peace was rapid, families coming in from Chelms- ford, Billerica, Woburn, Concord, and other places, to secure homesteads in a locality so well stored with timber and so rich in pasturage. Roads were laid out to the distant settle- ments, fences were constructed, and orchards planted. The church was the principal institution, the meeting-house the main rallying-point of the people; but it was soon found extremely inconvenient for those living in the remote parts of the town to assemble at the appointed place, and hence efforts were early made for a division of the territory. An area of two hundred square miles was evidently too extensive for the practical purposes of a church or a municipality, and so but little opposition was made against setting off " certain sections for the better accommodation of certain people." As early as June 21, 1721, a small corner in the northeast of Dunstable was incorporated with the town of Londonderry ; then on the 29th of June, 1732, a section in the southwestern part went in to help make up Townsend.
On the 4th of January, 1732-3, certain families, bearing the names of Blodgett, Cummings, Cross, Colburn, Greeley, Hill, Lovewell, Marsh, Merrill, Pollard, and Winn, who had com- menced a settlement on the easterly side of the Merrimack River as early as 1712, and were living in garrisoned houses, finding it inconvenient to attend church across the river, were incorporated into a town by the name of Nottingham. Com- ing into New Hampshire by the divisional line in 1741, the name was changed to Nottingham West, and that on the ist of July, 1830, to Hudson. The town contains an area of 17,379 acres. A church was organized here Nov. 30, 1737,
56
HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.
[1734
when the Rev. Nathaniel Merrill was ordained as pastor. He was succeeded in 1796 by the Rev. Jabez Pond Fisher, who preached for some time in Dunstable.
In 1733 it was voted that the new meeting-house should be erected four rods west of where the old church was standing, but against this vote the following persons, living in the south- erly part of the town, protested : Andrew Foster, Jonathan Cummings, Thomas Frost, Ebenezer Proctor, Josiah Blodgett, Thomas Cummings, Samuel Taylor, Ebenezer Parkhurst, John Kendall, Ebenezer Butterfield, Nathaniel Cummings, John French, Jonathan Taylor, Jacob Kendall, Daniel Kendall, Abraham Taylor, Abraham Taylor, Jr., and Thomas Howard. Caleb Parker was allowed £10 5s. "for building a pound." William Blodgett, Capt. Henry Farwell, and Noah Johnson were chosen a committee to fix upon a site for the new meet- ing-house.
The preparation of pitch and turpentine, of which the pri- meval forests of pine furnished large quantities, was long a source of revenue to the town. Such privileges as the follow- ing were occasionally granted. David Kendall, April 10, 1733, allows Samuel Taylor, for the sum of £13 5s. "to bled and chop and dress all ye pine trees within a mile of ye house of Ebenezer Proctor on ye land of said Proctor in Dunstable afore sd in Brattles Farm so called " for turpentine and other purposes, until March 6, 1735. Witness Nathaniel Cummings, Jr., and Abraham Taylor, Jr.
The excision of a part of the town of Dunstable to form Nottingham was followed by a still greater one in 1734, when the extensive tract called Naticook, and subsequently Brenton's Farm, was incorporated under the name of Litchfield. It was divided by the Merrimack River and originally settled by a few families from Billerica. Subsequently the section of the town west of the Merrimack River was incorporated under the name of Rumford, soon afterwards changed to. Merrimack, which it still retains.
William Cummings, 1734, received the sum of £10 on account of being wounded by the Indians ; and about this time a party of men from Dunstable, who were out on a
57
THE STATE LINE.
1741]
hunting excursion on the frontiers, fell, with but two or three exceptions, by the hands of the savages. A man by the name of Whitney escaping, built him a hut and spent the winter in the wilderness. On the return of spring, Mr. Timothy Reed, born March 21, 1714, who lived on the west side of Salmon Brook, and a few others, went in search of their lost townsmen. On approaching the hut of Whitney, and seeing something move among the bushes, Mr. Reed discharged his musket, and to his inexpressible horror found that he had killed one of his neighbors. His sorrow followed him to the grave .*
The number of families in Dunstable in 1730 was about fifty, and £90 were raised for the salary of Mr. Prentice, together with a small sum for the support of a "writing school." Mr. Prentice died Feb. 27, 1737, much lamented by his people. He was a good preacher, and his wife, who sur- vived him, was noted for her love of out-of-door exercise and of target-shooting, in which she sometimes bore away the prize.
The Rev. Josiah Swan, H. C. 1733, was ordained over the church Dec. 27, 1738, and about this period a new church edifice, which stood near the old burial-place at Little's Station, was dedicated. Mr. Swan continued to preach in the new church until some time in 1746, when he resigned his pastorate, and subsequently became a noted school-teacher in Lancaster.
In 1739, the westerly part of Dunstable, called by the Indians Nissitisset, was incorporated with the title of "The West Parish of Dunstable," which soon afterwards became the town of Hollis The westerly part of Hollis was in 1769 incorporated by the name of Raby, which was subsequently changed to that of Brookline. The town of Dunstable was thus gradually reduced in size until 1741, when, by the run- ning of the divisional line between the States of New Hamp- shire and Massachusetts, in regard to which a long and bitter controversy had been carried on, the above-mentioned towns, together with the territory that for some time bore the name of Dunstable, then Nashville, and which has since become the
* See Reed Family, p. 156.
58
HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.
[1741
city of Nashua, were set off to the former State, leaving Dunstable proper, which then included Tyngsborough, in the State of Massachusetts.
Omitting, then, farther notice of the parts exscinded from the original town of Dunstable, and making only an occasional reference to the town of Tyngsborough, I proceed according to the method I adopted for the writing of this history.
PEPPERELL
NASHUA
RIVER
W
& N
İR
R
GROTO
NEW
-
1
R
R
B
ROBYCHI
N .A
P.O.
-1
FORREST CHILL
TYNGSBOROUGH
DUNSTABLE
1
HAMPSHIRE
60
HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.
[1873
CHAPTER V.
TOPOGRAPHY OF DUNSTABLE. - THE WATER SUPPLY. - NASHUA RIVER. - UNQUETYNASSET BROOK. - SALMON BROOK. - HOWARD'S BROOK. - OTHER BROOKS. - MASSAPOAG POND. - THE GULF. - THE DISRUPTION OF THE DAM. - LITTLE MASSAPOAG POND. - FLAT ROCK HILL. - BLANCHARD'S HILL. - NUTTING'S HILL. - FOREST HILL AND OTHER EMINENCES. - SCENIC BEAUTY OF THE TOWN. - GEOLOGY AND MIN- ERALOGY. - SLATESTONE. - BOWLDERS. - IRON ORE. - OTHER MINERALS. - SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. - THE INHABITANTS. - OLD HOUSES.
"I never view the thriving villages of New England, which speak so forcibly to the heart of happiness and prosperity, without feeling a glow of national pride, as I say, 'This is my own, my native land !'"
MRS. L. M. CHILD.
"How often have I paused on every charm ! The sheltered cot, the cultivated farm, The never-failing brook, the busy mill, The decent church that topped the neighboring hill." DR. OLIVER GOLDSMITH.
TOPOGRAPHY. - The present town of Dunstable, incor- porated Oct. 16, 1673, is pleasantly situated in the northerly part of Middlesex County, Mass., and has for its boundaries Nashua, N. H., by a straight line on the north, Tyngsborough, by a circuitous course on the east and southeast, the same and Groton on the south, and Pepperell, from which it is in part separated by the Nashua River, on the west. By the State trigonometrical survey, the church is in latitude 42° 40' 27.96" north and in longitude 71º 29' 18.63" west. It is thirty-three miles northwest of Boston, ten miles northwest of Lowell, and seven miles south of Nashua, N. H,
The township is somewhat irregular in form, and embraces in all sixteen and thirteen thirty-seconds square miles, or 10,500 acres of territory. This is divided into ninety farms, which are again subdivided by substantial stone or rail fences
61
WATER SUPPLY.
1873]
into lots of convenient size for gardens, orchards, tillage, pas- turage, and woodland.
Though for the most part broken and uneven, the land is almost all susceptible of cultivation, and presents an admirable variety of situation, hill and valley, upland and meadow, suited to the different needs and purposes of the husbandman. As indicated by the current of the streams, the general inclination of the surface of the land is towards the north.
WATER SUPPLY. - The town is well supplied with water and has considerable hydraulic power. For about two miles and a quarter along the western border flows in a gentle cur- rent the beautiful NASHUA* RIVER, once the favorite resort of the aborigines. It was anciently called the " Watananock." It is on an average about twelve rods wide, and from three to fifteen feet deep. The water is clear and sweet, the banks of the stream are low and in the summer fringed with flowers. From Pepperell to Hollis the fall is about forty feet, and in the vicinity of Slatestone Hill it has been recently ascertained by actual survey that there is an excellent mill-privilege, at which a dam may be erected with a head of some twelve feet. This power will doubtless soon be utilized. A little steamboat has passed up this river from Hollis to Pepperell.
Although the water of this fine stream now turns no mill in Dunstable, it still serves to decorate the landscape, and to supply the basket of the angler with the best of perch and pickerel; while the intervals on the stream produce abundantly both hay and pasturage for the cattle of the husbandman.
The chief tributary of Nashua River from Dunstable is UNQUETY, or as anciently called, UNQUETYNASSET BROOK, a pretty little trout and mill stream, that, rising near Chestnut Hill, in Groton, enters the southwestern angle of the town, where it forms a pond for a saw and stave mill, in the romantic village of Unquety, and, pursuing thence a northwesterly course through fertile meadows, reaches the Nashua River about a mile south of the State line. This meandering stream
* The word " Nashua " signifies a "point of land at the confluence of two rivers."
62
HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.
[1873
is still the highway of the mink, muskrat, and otter from the Nashua River to the Massapoag Ponds.
The central part of the town is well drained by the SALMON BROOK, a valuable stream, well stored with fish, that, flowing from Massapoag Pond, pursues a northerly course through the Lower Massapoag Pond, and dividing the township nearly in the middle, empties into the Merrimack River, at what is called " The Harbor" in Nashua. It receives two tributaries from the west, one of which, called BARNES BROOK, proceed- ing from a swamp in the southwest, furnishes motive-power for Mr. George Parkhurst's saw-mill, and the other, known from early times as JOINT GRASS BROOK, after receiving the water of Spring Brook, turns the grist and saw mill of Mr. Daniel Swallow.
Salmon Brook receives, also, an affluent named BLACK BROOK from the east, which, on being augmented by two or three small streams, forms motive-power for Mr. James Woodward's grist and saw mill, near the centre of the town. There is a fine mill-privilege on the Salmon Brook, where it issues from Massapoag Pond at what is called " The Gulf," but the waters now roll uselessly over a dam of about ten feet in height. This famous brook, as its name, found in the earliest records, would imply, was once noted for its supply of salmon. It is navigable for small boats from " The Harbor " to the Great Massapoag Pond. Along its banks some of the original settlements of the whites were made, and from its fertile meadows their barns were well supplied with hay; its current, as we shall hereafter see, was once along the valley of Black Brook.
HOWARD's, sometimes called HOLDEN'S BROOK, rises in the northern base of Nutting's Hill, and by a devious course makes its way easterly into Tyngsborough, where it affords some motive-power, and then discharges its waters into Merrimack River. Its ancient name was Little Naacook, and a section of it near the Tyngsborough line is called SEVEN-STAR BROOK. One of its affluents, called WELD'S BROOK, perpetuates the name of the first minister of the town.
A fine little stream, known as BLODGETT'S BROOK, rises
1
63
WATER SUPPLY.
I873]
about a mile south of the source of Howard's Brook, and running southeasterly through a pleasant valley, becomes an affluent of Bridge Meadow, anciently Great Naacook, Brook, which reaches the Merrimack River at Tyngsborough Centre.
A small tributary of the last-named brook rises on the easterly confines of the town, and, running along the boun- dary for about a mile, enters Tyngsborough a little to the southeast of Forest Hill. Another rivulet, rising in the town last mentioned, and called SEWALL'S BROOK, flows westerly through a corner of Dunstable into Massapoag Pond.
There are in all, then, as many as six mill-privileges within the limits of the town, - one on Nashua River, one on Salmon Brook, two on tributaries coming into it from the west, one on Black Brook, where a saw-mill was erected anterior to the Revolution, entering it from the east, and one on Unquety- nasset Brook at the pleasant village of that name.
MASSAPOAG,* called in a plan of John Tyng's land, 1692, MASSHAPEAGE POND, having an area of more than one hun- dred acres, lies partly in Dunstable, Tyngsborough, and Gro- ton. It is formed by the waters of Cowpen Brook from Groton. A stone post upon an island in the westerly part of the pond indicates the boundary of these several towns.t This fine sheet of water, which originally was full of islands and had an area of more than six hundred acres, is enclosed by hills and headlands, affording many admirable scenic views. It is well stored with pickerel, perch, and bream, which, together with the wild fowl frequenting it, render it a favorite resort of the angler and the fowler. In former times the Indian built his wigwam on the margin of this fair lake, and furrowed its clear waters with his light birch canoe. When the English settlers arrived they found it teeming with salmon, shad, and alewives,
* The meaning of the word is " Great Pond."
t In a plan of Groton, made by Jonathan Danforth in 1668, the line of that town extended from Massapoag Pond northerly, by Edward Cowell's farm, Billerica land, and Boston farms to Buck Meadow, and thence two miles westerly to a point at the short turning of the Nashua River a little below the Nissitisset Hills. It gives about one half of the pond to Groton.
# The Legislature passed a law Feb. 20, 1807, forbidding " any person whatever in the night-time to kill, take, or destroy any fish in the pond called Massapaug
64
HISTORY OF DUNSTABLE.
[1688
which the dams on the Merrimack River long since pre- vented from ascending to this point. A few trout are still found in it, and now and then a chevin is drawn from its deep waters.
The outlet of the pond, now on the north, and known as " The Gulf," is one of the most wild and romantic spots in Dunstable A natural embankment or dam, more than thirty feet in height and several rods wide, almost encloses the pond at this point, rendering it evident that the waters at an early period were much higher than at present, and that they over- flowed a large extent of territory. This mound of earth, now covered with a heavy growth of oak and pine trees, some of which have been uprooted by a recent hurricane, bears the marks of a great inundation. The tradition is that in early times the outlet of the lake was on the east, and that the Salmon Brook, instead of issuing, as it now does, by a fall of some ten feet from the northern point of the pond at what is called " The Gulf," started from an outlet at the point where Sewall's Brook, by a fall of about twenty feet, now enters the pond, and made its way by the valley of the Black Brook, which at present enters it about a mile southwest of the centre of the town. This view is confirmed by the earliest deeds of the land as well as by the plots of the pond. In a plan of Mr. John Tyng's farm, 1692, the outlet of the pond is on the east, at what is now called Sewall's Brook ; but as that brook at present falls into the pond by a descent of some twenty feet, it is evident that the lake, when discharging its waters at that point, must have been more than twenty feet higher than it now appears, and that it must have covered an area some five or six times larger than at the present period. The shore of the pond, as it originally existed, may in some places still be traced by the level strata of sand and pebble-stones along the hillsides. In early times Samuel Adams, probably a son of Capt. Samuel Adams, of Chelmsford, whose death occurred on the 24th of January, 1688, cut a channel through the
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